Strolling Languid through the Ballantine Park filled with various sheds of beautiful autumn leaves that made the people in the park to pay attention to beauty and detail, it was so beautiful to the extent that it seemed the fallen leaves had been handpicked and glued to stay in their exact location, talking about a perfect work of art. For some moment I stood there petrified like the statue of liberty, the beauty seemed to suck the breath away from my lungs.
The beauty just made me appreciate God’s creations and of course, the beauty brought a picture of my beautiful girlfriend standing on top of the leaves igniting Ballantine Park.
I had arrived in Harare from Mutare after a 3 hour Journey by the so-called Mushikashika and I was so exhausted considering the fact that I was overwhelmed by Harare CBD sheer magnitude. After all, Harare is the capital city of Zimbabwe. A city with so many roads and buildings, made it easy to get lost in. Moreover, with the little interest of the city I decided to head home through Ballantine Park. I was so under the impression that I was going to be robbed but when I got to the park form the CBD I was so relaxed.
As I was in the park, I came across the magician. People are allowed to do magic in the park. , I thought aloud capturing the attention of the magician who seemed to be perplexed with the amusement my facial expressions were radiating. The magician was dressed like a wonder woman with a hat that is pointed. He was engrossed doing wondrous things. Heedless to the crowd around him, he looked captivated.
“(Abracadabra)”
I shook my head
“You did not get me?”
“Yes, Sure “, I said.
“How is it?”
“It’s beautiful and amazing.” (Was he referring to the Park or his magic’s? I was not sure.)
We had a conversation for some minutes. It was just an ordinary conversation, mainly about my visit and his work. He then asked me a question, which left an indelible mark.
“What are your thoughts when you look at Ballantine Park? Does it represent something to you?”
“God’s creations and existence .I also think it represents love and beauty.” He nodded.
I asked him the same question he asked me
“Illusions! It represents people’s love for illusions.”
He said this quite loudly and in a hash way .I believe he had not agreed with my answer to the question he had asked.
“What do you mean by illusions? How?” I asked.
“Open your eyes and look around Man of God. We do majestic works, in fact wonders that takes a lot of people’s attention. We perform in different spectacular cities even outside Zimbabwe that will one day be violently reduced to dust. We are so smart such that we are aware of our own mortality, foolish to think we can forestall its arrival, and clever to devise ways to ignore this
knowledge. All Magicians knows it. This is how these works of magic are. Illusions that’s why people love them.”
We had the same conversation for a few minutes and then he returned to his works.
Two hours later, at Ballantine Park, I still could not understand the true meaning of his words. What he said appeared as antithesis of the beauty of the park and his work. His words and his works were contradicting and I loved it. Still I did not understand the words completely. If it was a film, this was going to be more like an epiphany for me. It would have been terrible. “I am going to change my carrier and become a writer instead!” Nevertheless, I am sure life is messier than films.
Lastly, I would say if you were blessed enough to visit Ballantine Park and meet such, then everywhere you go in your entire life stays with you, for Ballantine is a moveable feast.